"otherwise they are a founder and should be rewarded accordingly with equity." Of course - as they were. My point was on cash money comp. Never said they work

"otherwise they are a founder and should be rewarded accordingly with equity." Of course - as they were. My point was on cash money comp. Never said they worked for free hence their title of technical cofounder which implies equity. "...and actually be effective at it is extremely rare. What you'll usually find is someone at the beginning of their career that doesn't really understand what they are getting into." The onus is on the founding team to be sufficiently compelling to attract such a rare breed and if they execute correctly there is no short end to the stick to be had.